IU’s Quidditch team, the Midnight Snipes, will host its first tournament Saturday at the field between Read and Wright.
Five other teams from the Midwest will travel to IU for the tournament — Southern Illinois Carbondale, the Illini Ridgebacks, Webster Quidditch, the St. Louis Spirits and the University of Southern Indiana.
Quidditch is a full contact sport based on the game within the Harry Potter franchise.
The game is best described as a conglomerate of other sports, including handball, dodge ball, rugby and tag.
Co-president of the team and IU senior Caroline Alexander said she hoped the sport would gain more recognition.
“It is a real sport,” she said. “We don’t fly, but we try.”
The team was founded five semesters ago by Emily Deckard, who graduated last year.
The team is now in the hands of Alexander and co-president Tisha Burks. On the playing field, or pitch, the team is led by junior Maddie Jeffers and sophomore Jacob Neidlinger, who serve as beater captain and chaser captain respectively.
The Midnight Snipes are a young team this year with mostly freshmen on their roster.
One such freshmen is Matt Pesch.
“Quidditch certainly has provided a good friend group that is quick-bonding and expansive,” he said.
Fellow freshman Maddi Hite agreed, pointing out that the team hangs out outside of practices and matches.
While this is the first tournament the team has ever been host to, the team plans on attending at least four tournaments this year. Last year, the team competed in six tournaments including Midwest regionals, where the team sustained many injuries and three hospitalizations.
The Midnight Snipes will not be competing at regionals this year because of a hike in registration fees with the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association, or IQA.
Players come from a wide array of majors and backgrounds, and Alexander said she enjoys the opportunity to meet different people.
For her, Quidditch has been a support system during rough times, an outlet for leadership and athletics and a way to make friends.
The team practices three times a week. Monday and Tuesday night practices are optional and Sunday practices are mandatory. Alexander says the team has about 30 members who are consistently in attendance.
At practice Wednesday, which took place indoors at the School of Public Health, the Midnight Snipes started with stretches and moved into a series of skill-specific drills.
“If you watched us at the first practice and then watched us now, we’re a completely different team,” sophomore Corey Cockrum said.
This is Cockrum’s first year on the team. He is sitting out of practice with a sprained ankle.
Injuries are common in Quidditch, and the Midnight Snipes aim to prevent them by holding tackling practices and teaching their players safer ways to fall and tackle. The team also has at least seven members trained with certified safety training.“It’s a really physical game, and people forget that,” Alexander said.
The Midnight Snipes now require players to wear rugby scrumcaps to protect against head injuries.
The team, including freshman Catherine Horvath, looks forward to seeing friends and rivals on the pitch Saturday.
“It’s bringing a fantasy and a dream that I had as a child to life,” Horvath said.
Follow reporter Anna Hyzy on Twitter @annakhyzy.
